colony · Greece and the Aegean
French Ionian Islands
Origins
Napoleon's destruction of the Republic of Venice in 1797 brought French troops to Corfu. The Treaty of Campo Formio in October 1797 gave France the Venetian Ionian Islands and their mainland outposts, which were organised as three French departments: Corcyre, Ithaque and Mer-Egee.
Rule and society
The French burned the Golden Book of the Venetian nobility, planted liberty trees and introduced revolutionary institutions, but their requisitions and anticlericalism alienated many islanders. A Russian-Ottoman expedition under Admiral Ushakov took the islands in 1799, creating the Septinsular Republic. The Treaty of Tilsit in 1807 returned them to France.
Decline and legacy
Britain blockaded and captured most of the islands in 1809-1810, but the French governor General Donzelot held Corfu until it was surrendered in 1814 after Napoleon's abdication. The islands then became the United States of the Ionian Islands under British protection.
Lineage
On the connections map
Open the full map →Connections (1)
- French Ionian Islands was a colony of French Empire1807 CE – 1814 CE
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Cite this page
- APA
- The Epoch Institute. (2026). French Ionian Islands. In The Epoch Institute States Register. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/french-ionian-islands
- MLA
- “French Ionian Islands.” The Epoch Institute States Register, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/french-ionian-islands. Accessed .
- Chicago
- The Epoch Institute. “French Ionian Islands.” The Epoch Institute States Register. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/french-ionian-islands.
- Harvard
- The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘French Ionian Islands’, The Epoch Institute States Register. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/french-ionian-islands (Accessed: ).
Last reviewed October 2026Random state ↻